CSO Magazine recently published an article by Jeff Snyder on "The Top Five Reasons CSO Candidates Don't Get Hired" Rather surprisingly, the top of the list, according to the author who is head of a recruiting firm, are poorly written resumes, inadequate communication skills, lack of understanding of business needs, an inflated resume and a "lack of passion". This doesn't seem to read so different from the top 5 reasons why someone wouldn't get hired as CEO, kindergardener, car mechanic or just about any other job. Our faithful readers, of course, would be able to avoid the most basic mistakes. I can relate to "passion" and "business focus". The desire for excellent communication skills turns up in so many job ads that one might suspect that what the business sees in the CSO is all too often a "technical expert with communication skills". Why is it that any of these would seem special? They're commodities in any executive profile, aren't they? My only explanation is that they seem special because it is still true that most CSOs are coming from a technical career background, and typical business skills are where they struggle the most. I know of some who are taking MBA classes (technical slang would be to "hack business skills" - fair enough) but it's not so much a question of skill. The basic business skills needed to get one started is not so complex that it would take more than a couple of weeks to learn. (Truly mastering them takes a lifetime, of course.) The key question then, must be one of attitude. If you want to be CSO, make the decision - here, now - to be a business person. Now start honing your skills.
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